Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, May 21, 1997

Cloistered Russian Orthodox nuns who shun attention stepped into the limelight and persuaded San Mateo County supervisors yesterday to approve their controversial plan for a monastery in the coastal hills.

On a 3-to-2 vote, supervisors approved a concept plan submitted by the Russian Convent of Our Lady of Vladimir for a monastery 2 1/2 miles south of Highway 92 off Skyline Boulevard.

The nuns, who cloak all but their faces in black, want to leave their church in San Francisco's noisy and crime-plagued Mission District for a pastoral setting where they can pray, bake bread and sew.

"We do remind ourselves that anything good takes awhile. Especially in building a church there will be trials," Sister Isihia after the close vote.

Supervisors narrowly rejected arguments by Save Skyline Open Space, a group of nearby residents who say the monastery would change the area's rural character and could open the door to further development. Opponents promised they would return when the project comes up for further reviews and would consider filing a suit to block it.

The nuns trace their origin to 1910 when they resurrected a monastery in Russia's Ural Mountains. Forced to flee the Bolsheviks, they founded and lost two more monasteries in China before they settled in San Francisco in the early 1950s.

Last year, they bought 284 acres above Half Moon Bay for a convent for 20 nuns, a 10-room retreat, a caretaker's home and parking lot. County planning commissioners last month gave the go- ahead but Save Skyline appealed the unanimous decision.

Opponents argued that the scenic Skyline ridge is the wrong spot for a monastery. "The issue before you today is preservation of this magnificent open space," said Save Skyline member Elise Jacques. "To develop this land would be a travesty."

The area is home to several hundred people, many of whom moved to the hills to escape the urban ills the nuns hope to leave. But opponents worry that pilgrims would jam narrow Skyline Boulevard and shatter the area's peace.

Yesterday's vote does not allow the nuns to build but permits them to proceed with filing more detailed plans and avoid tighter development restrictions expected to take effect later this year.